In the afternoon of April 22, 2019, the RNA and Chromatin Club meeting was held in Room A542 of L Building. At this meeting, Yang Guang, a student of Prof. Huang Xingxu's research group, and Professor Tiffany Horng from the School of Life Science and Technology were invited to share their new research results.
During the first talk, Yang Guang shared his research findings on histone modifications through CRISPR/Cas9-mediated base editing. He introduced us the advantages of using the base editor to study the functions of specific histone modifications. In their study, they were able to simultaneously target a specific R17 residue at 11 out of 12 histone H3 proteins. First, they successfully tested the base editing-mediated histone H3R17H substitutions in N2A cells. Then they introduced the CRISPR/Cas9-mediated base editing system into fertilized mouse eggs by microinjection and found that H3R17H substitutions had a great negative impact on mouse embryo development. Furthermore, they found that the histone arginine methylation at H3R17 regulates mouse embryo development through Yap1 and cell cycle signaling pathway. His research has established a model system for studying mouse embryonic development.
For the second half of the meeting, Professor Horng gave a talk entitled “Mitochondrial Metabolism Influences Histone Acetylation in Macrophages”. Her lab found that IL-4 signaling activates an AKT-mTORC1-ACLY pathway to increase Ac-CoA production for histone acetylation at the M2 genes, thus boosting macrophage activation in tissue repair. ACLY activation is also increased during LPS activation which may lead to an inflammatory response. However, immune tolerance will ensue after prolonged exposure to LPS in macrophage activation. They found that LPS-induced tolerance is associated with shutdown of oxidative metabolism, which leads to reduced histone acetylation and suppression of inflammatory gene induction.
The RNA and Chromatin Club meeting is aimed to provide a platform for the students, professors and other research scientists in School of Life Sciences at ShanghaiTech University to share their recent experimental results and exchange ideas. It has been a good opportunity for young investigators to present their findings in front of a big audience so that they will be prepared for more important talks in even bigger stages in the future. The RCC meeting series has been successfully held many times in our school. Two speakers are invited to share their research results in each meeting. Please join us to support your colleagues at our next RCC meeting on May 20, 2019.